Ocker felt she was witnessing history at Jefferson Awards celebration

EVANSVILLE - Sherry Ocker, a fourth- and fifth-grade teacher at Evansville's Highland Elementary School, said she got chills after listening to Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel, a Romanian-born Jewish-American professor and political activist, speak earlier this week at the national Jefferson Awards celebration in Washington, D.C.

Ocker was selected as the local recipient of the 2013 Jefferson Award for her work with the after-school program at Westbrook Mobile Home Court. She volunteers there at least 10 hours a week for after-school tutoring with students at the trailer, the first learning facility of its kind in the area which opened for its first summer program in May 2012.

"All the things that have been accomplished at Westbrook Evolution have been possible because our entire community is caring and willing to help others," she said.

In 1972, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, U.S. Sen. Robert Taft Jr., and Sam Beard established the Jefferson Awards. Recipients are ordinary people who do extraordinary things without expectation of recognition or reward. Thirteen years ago, the program was brought to the Tri-State by the Evansville Courier & Press.

Ocker, 54, was in the running for the national level of the award in Washington, where she represented the community. The five 2013 Onassis award winners were Oral Lee Brown from San Francisco, Calif.; Dr. Joseph Bailey from Tupelo, Miss.; Jeffery Ryan Futrell from Memphis Tenn.; Ed and Sue Goldstein from Warren, N.J. and the Excella Consulting company.

"The entire event was just so inspiring it is hard to put it into words," Ocker said. "I felt like I was witnessing history."

While in Washington, Ocker toured the capital with her husband and friends that live in the area by spending time on the Potomac River, visiting the Pentagon, the Holocaust Museum and the Museum of Natural History.

"It was a wonderful once in a lifetime experience that my husband and I will never forget," she said. "I am going to work very hard to get our EVSC high schools involved throughout this next school year. It was fantastic to see so many young people doing great things all over our country to make our world a better place and to help those who need it. I know we have that kind of student in our schools, too."